A good series on the scuttling of the middle class...
Posted by JHB in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Wed Sep 20th 2006, 12:37 PM
I originally posted this elsewhere, but for resource value it's worth repeating here (this is an update of a previous article):
--------------------------------------------------------
One of the things I find that comes up when talking with people about the economy, globalization, etc., is many peoples' belief that it was all rather inevitable, so complaining about it is like complaining about the tide: you can do it, but it's pointless.
I don't have to wonder why they think that -- the "liberal" media has repeated the theme for nearly thirty years now -- but sometimes I wonder how it is that I became "inoculated" against this. Why am I so sure things didn't have to play out this way and that deliberate political decisions were at least as important as "the invisible hand" in bringing about what Paul Krugman called "The Great Unraveling".
Well, part of it was what I'd been reading. I can't exactly give my full reading list for the last 20 years, but I can recommend a few books that will help when it comes to fixing the "What's the Matter with Kansas?" and "Talking to an Elephant" problems.
Reporters James B. Steele and Donald L. Barlett wrote a series of articles, some for The Philadelphia Enquirer, some for Time, on how the changing economy was playing out for ordinary people. The first, published in book form in 1992, is a little dated, but that actually works in its favor now, since it's entirely pre-Clinton. The later series/books followed up on the same or similar themes, and collectively they serve as quite an information source and teaching tool when you try to explain to people just how far this "squeeze the middle" and "starve the beast" effort goes back.
Robert Fitch is a former labor organizer, reseacher, and author. (see
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/28/opinion/... for a more recent NYTimes op-ed from him)
Pick'em up at your library, or at a bookstore, and get
The Assassination of New Yorkby Robert Fitch
ISBN-10: 1859841554
ISBN-13: 978-1859841556
http://www.versobooks.com/books/cdef/ef-ti... Tho original edition was from 1996, but according to the Verso site there was a 2002 (post-Guliani) update. Fitch details how the loss of manufacturing jobs and the increased emphasis on the FIRE sector (finance, Insurance, and real estate) in NYC (and similar policies occured across the country) wasn't just a natural evolution of business, technology, and globalism, but was the result of deliberate policy decisions which (further) enriched the well-connected.
America: What Went Wrong?by James B Steele, Donald L. Barlett
Paperback: 252 pages
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (January 1, 1992)
ISBN: 0836270010
"Worried that you are falling behind, not living as well as you once did?..."
http://www.amazon.com/America-Wrong-Donald... Chapter 1 of "America: What Went Wrong" can be found here:
http://www.politicalindex.com/wrong1.htm AMERICA: WHO REALLY PAYS THE TAXES?by Donald L. Barlett
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Remaindered Marked edition (March 23, 1994)
ISBN: 0671871579
http://www.amazon.com/America-Who-Really-P... America: Who Stole The Dream?by Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele
Paperback: 276 pages
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (June 1, 1996)
ISBN: 0836213149
"Let's suppose, for a moment, there was a country where the people in charge charted a course that eliminated millions of good paying jobs..."
http://www.amazon.com/America-Stole-Donald... The Great American Tax Dodge: How Spiraling Fraud and Avoidance Are Killing Fairness, Destroying the Income Tax, and Costing Youby Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele
Paperback: 302 pages
Publisher: University of California Press; 1st Califo edition (September 2, 2002)
ISBN: 0520236106
"A woman forms a company to conduct "research" for the benefit of her minor children and writes a monthly "rent" check to her husband to..."
http://www.amazon.com/Great-American-Tax-D... JHB
